Chemist Warehouse is featuring at two investment banking conferences this month, prompting some to take the view that it has not given up on plans for an initial public offering next year.
The $5bn company will be part of a panel at the UBS Australasia Investment Conference next week and will feature at the Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Summit later this month.
Chemist Warehouse has been considered a likely float candidate for at least two years but has not yet progressed with a plan for a potential listing.
The Melbourne-based pharmacy chain is owned by My Chemist Retail Group and was founded by the Gance and Verrocchi families. It controls more than 300 pharmacies and has a complex ownership model that has enabled the business to work around the restrictive ownership rules.
The pharmacy chain has been working with advisory firm Rothschild to prepare it for a potential listing.
But the founders are said to be keeping their options open.
Chemist Warehouse has undergone a restructure in preparation for being a listed company, but to prevent a major capital gains tax payment it had to hold the business for more than 12 months.
For this reason, a deal was always thought to happen by the fourth quarter at the earliest as it moved to avoid capital gains tax payments. Its exact market value remains unclear, but the thinking is it will be at least $5bn.
Chemist Warehouse generates about $250m of annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, according to estimates from analysts. The company is the country’s largest pharmaceutical retailer and is known in the past to have generated about $4bn in sales annually.
Suitors have run the ruler over the business in the past, including Wesfarmers.
Macquarie Capital held investor education sessions about the business in 2017 so will be well placed to win an advisory role should the chemist chain opt for a listing.
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